Our GM was also let go last week. Coach Granato's future is also kind of up in the air, and then there is of course the nornaml question of whether Sakic will return, and I've heard questions about Foote's retirement as well. I think it is going to be a long road back to the top...

The Pens didn't look outstanding in their last game either but at least kept it somewhat competitive... I can't believe all the people bitching about the officiating from Game 2 in the series though. Typical.

Boy am I glad we're out of that series... Penguins didn't look outstanding, certainly not for 60 minutes in most of the games anyway (Game 1 was pretty great though), and honestly I can't stand Philly for the most part... I was glad to see the Penguins get a fire lit under their asses after Talbot (or as he's known locally, "superstar") took one for the team and then he mockingly shushed the crowd... That was hysterical and barely anyone talked about it.

Nice to have a couple nights where I'm not biting my nails off though. I need the lack of anxiety.

Time to revise my picks. I sucked in the first round and the Sharks choked on a chicken duck bone.

First Round

Boston over MontrealWashington over RangersCarolina over DevilsPhiladelphia over Pens

Sharks over DucksColumbus over WingsBlues over VancouverChicago over Calgary

Second round

Carolina over BostonWashington over Pens

Ducks over Red WingsChicago over Vancouver

Conference Finals

Washington over Carolina

Chicago over Ducks

Cup Finals

Chicago over Washington

Also, as far as the Sharks choking yet again in the playoffs, well, I'm frustrated as hell. However, I'm getting tired of all the local fair-weather fans that I hear and read that are saying that they won't watch the Sharks anymore, etc. It's especially irritating when they say that they've waited 17 years! Um, 17 years is nothing. They should talk to some Leafs fans. The Sharks will be back, and they'll break through eventually.

Can't wait for the Wings-Ducks and the Pens-Caps series. Those should be good ones.

Hamilton Coyotes? Think it will stick this time or will Balsillie be as successful here as he was at trying to move the Predators north a few years ago?

It sure seemed like things were settled to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, then along comes the crazy Canuck - Bettman is probably someplace fuming right about now. His choices are to give in and let the Coyotes move to Canada (potentially pissing off Ottawa and Toronto in the process) or reject the move, which would force the bankrupt Coyotoes owners to take far far less for the team (reportedly 50% less) from someone else who intends on keeping them in the south-west (Jerry Reinsdorf).

I LOVE the idea of another team coming to Canda, it's been too long that we've been losing teams. But I wonder how viable another one would be in southern Ontario. Although since the Leafs have been struggling for a number of years, perhaps fans would be willing to give a new team a chance?

Have they talked about returning the team to Winnipeg at all? Ontario already has two teams, it doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to put a third in the Provence and fracture that market even more.

Not to mention that neither team in Ontario is doing too swiftly these days... I know Toronto's fan-base is die-hard and Ottawa should be too simply because of location, but I thought I read that it wasn't as rock solid... I could be wrong on that.

Also there's Buffalo there too and I know a lot of Canucks who root for them because they're closer to the Buffalo area and it's easier to get to games there... You'd be fracturing that fanbase a bit too I think.

First, if Balsillie wants it in Southern Ontario, I say let him. It's his money and frankly I see it doing better there than anywhere else in Canada. Shocked I'd say that? Yeah, me too. They have the population base there to support it and it is in the Canada/northern US region where hockey is loved, understood and played so I'd have a hard time seeing it end up in the same attendance zone as Phoenix or Carolina or wherever else they are blowing the attendance stats totally out of proportion. Nothing I hate more than someone citing the "average attendance" for an arena at 15,000 and when I look in on a game they'd be lucky to be pushing 5K. There's lots of teams with good attendance and there's a handful (or two) whose numbers are blown totally out of reality.

Problematically you have Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo and Detroit all in the region. Do you really need another team there? No. But.... Toronto, no matter how craptastic they are (and I love them for sucking that badly - 1967 baby) is always a sellout. There was some contention of them getting a second team a few months ago and realistically I could see them supporting it. The population of rabid fans is there. I don't think that Ottawa (too far a drive in the wrong direction) would be impacted, nor would Detroit because of their fan base strength. Buffalo might be the most serious issue, but I don't know how many Canadian folks travel south for games.

Other Canadian markets? Don't know where else to put them. Not anywhere in the Maritimes, the population base just isn't there and I suspect the east coast is too blue collar to spring $150+ for good seats 42 times a year. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver all have teams. Regina/Saskatoon ain't going to pull it off. There just aren't enough people and that blue collar mentality is too prevalent for the current price range. I don't think Kelowna could pull it off either due to population base issues though they'd probably more readily pay to see the games than lots of other Canadians. So the only real options aside from Southern Ontario would be Quebec City or Winnipeg. I assume they're similar in many respects.

Winnipeg, while not as much of a hole as Pittsburgh, is a nice choice for a number of reasons. I'd certainly give us the nod over Quebec City in terms of the number of bitter, angry, never letting go of the former team fans. It is stunning to live here and see how often the issue of the Jets coming back is raised. Part of that is that we definitely got shafted in many ways by Bettman when the Jets left and it was pretty much never a choice of the Jets remaining here in his mind. No matter whether an owner stepped up or not, that team was going to Phoenix. At the same time, there are major issues with Winnipeg getting a franchise again. The major one is we don't have a big, deep pockets owner willing to step up like Balsillie. Without that it is a non-starter and Balsillie could care less about Winnipeg.

Winnipeg also fits into that "blue collar" price range I mentioned earlier. All those rabid, never let go types are still expecting to pay $40 for the reds and get the 7-11 tickets in the upper deck for $8. That's not realistic anymore and time doesn't stand still. The pricing is probably going to be $150 at a minimum for the lowers, per seat and that won't fly well with fans here as it will come as a major shock. We support the Manitoba Moose (Canucks AHL affiliate) quite well, to the tune of 8000 or so a game, but the pricing is familiar and like it was for the old Jets games - you can take the family to a game and afford to go back two weeks later. Family of four in great seats at an NHL game? $400 for the night. Same for AHL game? $100-150. Huge difference for most. I just don't see that many fans ponying up the $4000-6000 for season tickets.

The arena we have is nice, but I think only about 15,500 in capacity. Lots of nice boxes in it, so corporate tickets would be way better than the old barn which had none. But the arena is still small.

Quebec City would face many of the same issues I'd think, plus I don't think they currently have a suitable arena and then there's the whole French language issue, which is an issue no matter what anyone says. It makes it uncomfortable for lots of the players.

It wouldn't be fair if I didn't point out I hate Bettman, as does every Winnipegger worth their salt. He's a moron and keeping the team in the US, almost completely regardless of market, instead of letting it come back to Canada is just plain stupidity. You've got an interested buyer with dollars to burn, a love of the game, who wants to involve Gretzky, name the damn arena after Wayne's dad and a good market to put it in (duly noting some impacts to surrounding teams). Why the hell would you want to put it in Kansas City or Tulsa or somewhere like that, where it will likely do as well as it has in Phoenix? No disrespect to the fans of Phoenix, but it's just not a good market for it. But obviously something is causing the owner of the current team to want out, probably the loss of millions of dollars and he just wants to stop the bleeding. Winnipeg never had the owner with super deep pockets and according to Bettman we didn't support the team, so if that's the opinion of the owner in Phoenix about his fans, off it goes to Southern Ontario.

Where does Winnipeg rank in the world's most livable cities list again? I forget?

I was busting your balls mostly though Brent. Winnipeg was always actually a favorite town to travel to for the local guys that call the games. Them and Vancouver... Not that we ever got to either one often... I really believe that's where it should wind up ultimately. It feels wrong not having another team in the West and from Canada. Your points are valid though (since you live there) as to why they don't get their team back. The other towns you mentioned, I hadn't even heard of some of them.

I thought Hartford had made strides to regain an NHL team? Maybe it would go there... Hammilton seems an odd choice to me I guess, but if they've got the population and arena for it, whatever... I wonder how it would shift things around in the East then?

Putting the team in Winnipeg would save a lot of trouble - you'd just drop them in the NW with Minnesota, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary. Then just bump Colorado to the Pacifi to take the Coyotes place.

But, if the team ends up out east, who know what they'd do?

What about something like this...

Colorado to the Pacific ->Chicago or St. Louis to the Northwest ->Pittsburg to the Central ->Boston to the Atlantic ->and "new team" to NorthEast.

That puts Crosby in the West, something the NHL would LOVE to see I think. As a Western team fan, it does suck that we only get to see guys like Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin, etc 1-2 times every three years.

Moving Pit would cause some problems, yeah, but geographically Pit would be the easiest to bump to the West since it's closer to the Det/CBJ group. Or, I guess you could bump ATL to the Central, and then Philly to the Southeast to take their spot and make room for Boston?

The biggest problems would be travel for the team and timezone issues... It's 5 out west when it's 8 here, etc... I really don't relish the thought of watching games at 1 a.m. that should've ended at 10. I don't know what Columbus fans do though, or how they have managed those issues. Technically though, they are a midwest team... We're not.

There really aren't many other options geographically though, for certain.

It makes no sense geographically but move Florida into the West. Nobody down there gives a **** about hockey anyway so having two teams is offensive. Or what about the Islanders?